The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1887-03-16
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 70, 1887.
A DEEP PROJECT.

A proposition has been laid before
Congress for an appropriation of triiie
Of So, 600, 900 to provide means in each
State and Territory for drilling a hole
in the ground somewhere in that State
and Territory three thousand feet deep,
for the purpose Of getting useful in
formation relative to the mineral re-
sources Of the country. In case the
holes may not prove mediums Of com.
munication from the neither regions Of
the earth, but may become dangerous
traps for unwary and over Jealous at
PENDANTS on religious meetings, the
lands Of sects and denomlnatit MS are
to be let severely alone. The author,
however, thinks that friends Of edu-
cation will be only too willing to give
the commissioners in charge Of the
drilling operations titles to school lands
in consideration of getting wells over
three thousand feet deep sunk on their
lands. The Interior purpose OF the
hole drilling enterprise seems to be to
get rid Of sNme of the surplus cash
piled away idle in the treasury vaults
at Washington. BE that as it may,
there is no doubt that, visionary as the
scheme is, it would have at least one
good result in that it would, as the pro-
jector claims, unearth more knowledge
Of the mineral resources of the United
States in two years that can be expect.
ed from fifty years ofprivate enterprise.
The whole business, to anyone &C.
quainted with Hawaiian politics, looks
like circumlocution on wheels, A great
many,revuiutivIs Of the wheels OF time,
enterprise and toll, seem to be needed to
effect results that the more modest
wire pullers in Hawaiian affairs reach
with single turn ofthe hand or scratch
Of the official quill. The dunderhead.
edness of the projectors Of the hole
drilling scheme, as compared with
the magnanimity and farseeing states.
manship Of the rulers of Hawaii, is
exhibited in most disagreeably APP
parent manner in that the benighted
condition of the inhabitants of Sable
Island, ST. Helena or Terra del Fuego
has never occurred to them in way
to STIR their emotions and kindle in
them some heartfelt interest in the
welfare of these kindred races inhabit.
ing the said islands. To read in the
report Of His Excellency of the Homo
lulu foreign office, of the loving pater.
nal interest with which the Samoan
and the Micronesian are regarded by
His Majesty Of Hawaii, and to see the
practical outcome Of those lofty senti-
ments in a grand missionary expedition
for their enlightenment in political
jugglery, bibulous industry and kahuna
psychology, is really refreshing when
compared with the sordid narrow
minded scheme of puncturing the sur
face of the country with pits for toads
to bury themselves in. Besides all
which there is the royal navy to utilize
the odds and ends of Hawaiian finance
and to provide a never failing outlet
for surplus doubloons. The U. S.
Congressman proposing to scatter his
energies all over the Union in digging
post holes might learn thing or two
by attending session of the Hawaiian
Parliament He would discover that
there are ways and means of tightening
ballast in the ship of state that his
widest fancies had never touched, and
that there is craftsmanship in Hawaii
at once unique, exhaustive and won
deriul, not only in its capacity for great
projects but also in its mastery indif.
ference to such commonplace matters
as internal improvements or national
progress .i]ti|it